A Shot of Murder by J. A. Kazimer is the first book in the “Lucky Whiskey” traditional mystery series. Publisher: Midnight Ink, coming June 8, 2019.

When it comes to murder, sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good

Ten years after leaving the small town of Gett, Florida, for Hollywood stardom, Charlotte “Charms” Lucky, who has never quite lived up to her surname, returns home to run the Lucky Whiskey distillery while her grandfather recovers from a heart attack.

Making whiskey is harder than Charlotte imagined, especially with longtime rivals and resentful townsfolk interfering at every turn. She’ll need more than a lucky charm to keep the family afloat, especially when she discovers her former high school boyfriend’s pickled corpse in a Lucky Whiskey cask, and her grandfather is arrested for the murder. Charlotte has one shot to clear his name and save the family business, and that is to find the real killer among a town full of suspects.

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Charlotte returns home when her grandfather falls ill. Helping out at the distillery, she finds a dead body and her grandfather is arrested for the crime. Knowing he is innocent, Charlotte is on the case to clear his name and save the family business.

The author did a great job in writing a well-written drama with a solid plot and an interesting cast of characters that were more like a dysfunctional family living under one roof. The mystery was nicely done, with suspects here and there and clues that kept me engrossed in all the possibilities that the author staged for this tale. The dialogue kept me engaged as each word spoken between the various characters gave me a few chuckles and took me closer to the person responsible.

Charlotte is one determined protagonist, even when a certain young man offered help, but was he really helping? There were a few twists and turns that added to my reading pleasure. All in all, it was a good start in the series, however some stuff was repeated repeatedly and it was not necessary to this reader.

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FTC Full Disclosure – I received an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) from the publisher.